Why Are Americans So Greedy?

When my Mum and Dad were on a Hawaiian cruise a few years ago they were repulsed by the amount of gluttony displayed by the American passengers. Instead of people just putting what they could eat on the plate, they cram everything on as if it were their last meal before they died. What was really disgusting was that half of it ended up being thrown out.

Why Do They Act Like This?

Why can’t they just help themselves to what they know they can eat instead of being so wasteful? Do they not have the self-control just to eat sausage and eggs one day and bacon and beans the next?

My old dog used to live for food and would sometimes escape to raid the bins behind restaurants and takeaways. She would eat so much she had to be carried home. At least she had an excuse! She was a stray found by my Gran begging for food outside a butcher shop. Even although we gave her regular meals still had the fear of not knowing when her next meal would be.

Difference Between Americans and Europeans

Although things are far from perfect here, whenever I’ve been on holiday in Europe people tend to just put on their plate what they can eat. If they are still hungry they’ll go up for seconds or even thirds (or fourths).

If white Americans are descended from Europeans why is there such a gap in attitudes to food? I know that Burger King and MacDonalds are big business here too but what I’m talking about is the “eyes bigger than your stomach” syndrome. Although I’ve seen people act like pigs at these “all you can eat” buffets, they seem to be in the minority compared to in America.

On a side note, I find it really funny how people on the cruise seemed to think that eating low-fat yoghurt, low calorie maple syrup and diet cola would somehow improve their diet. Talk about being delusional!

Question: Do all Americans act like this or is it just people on Cruise ships?

28 comments

I think it’s more or less the other way around, us Europeans being more greedy than the Americans. Many within Europe would rather take too little than too much because it’s seen as a shame and waste of money in the end if food or anything else for that matter has to be thrown away.

Not just Americans but many other cultures throughout this world think the complete way around when it comes to food, in example one day I went for lunch along with a friend which came from Afghanistan. Apparently his mom cooked a warm meal, something which I’m not too used to at lunch but not that I can’t handle it. But the plate I received would be something I wouldn’t even finish for dinner, and then even there was plenty more where that came from.

Why us Europeans grab so little or the rest of the world puts so much onto a plate, I’m clueless :P. Perhaps an important factor is that many kids at least here get taught to finish their plates or otherwise they get whatever punishment, on a psychological level I can see how that can teach one from at a very young age to rather take multiple servings rather than pile up your plate at once.

I think most Americans see things like cruises as smorgashborgs of excess where they can get as much of what they like without anyone harassing them. In real world America most people don’t act like you describe.

Just look at the difference in portion sizes between american and european restaurants. The american people are used to getting huge plates of food its not surprising they fill their plates. its normal for them to see that much food on a plate.

I think the author just doesn’t like Americans.
Why else would she pick such a petty thing like how much one has to eat on ones plate.

I’m an American and don’t consider myself greedy in the least.
But the blanket statement made by the author implies Americans “in general” are greedy people.
Three hundred million clones, all stuffing their faces and snatching bits of food from others plates when they’re not looking.

Please except my invitation to the USA so you can see how it really is before making offending untrue remarks about us.
We’re just people like you.
By the way, spent 4 months in the UK a few years back. Loved it.
Great people, deeply interesting culture, hope to return someday and meet my grand daughter in London for the first time. Cya.

Greed permeates American society, infact it’s built upon it. When you can sleep at night knowing millions of your fellow citizens go without adequate social services just so you pay less tax you’re not going to think twice about taking more food than you can possibly eat.

Fraser, that’s the dunbest thing I’ve ever heard.
I, my family and everyone I know, barely make it from month to month. We eat one meal a day, because we have little money left after rent, food, and other mandatory items.
Your statement proves you don’t know any Americans, just propaganda that you’ve either heard or dreamed up.

I believe that making broad statements like this blog does makes alot of “straw-man” attacks at something that they don’t understand. People in American, people like me, do not constantly gorge ourselves. Did you ever stop to think that maybe if you pay to go on a cruise you might want to get what you paid for, instead of sitting around hungry knowing you want to eat more but you do not just so that you can keep up appearences. I mean seriously, do you even think before you post things on the internet you wrote: “Europe people tend to just put on their plate what they can eat. If they are still hungry they’ll go up for seconds or even thirds (or fourths).” So what you basically were say was that you guys do the same exact thing that we do except you are sneakier when you do it? I just think you are as an individual are so arrogant, and ignorant you know absolutly nothing about Americans and you want to bash us. You did not even actually see the things you talked about your parents did. So get some first hand experience and then make assumptions, but do not sit around posting your presuppositions and calling them facts.

I’ve always been wary of making blanket statements about population groups. While there are good people and bad in every society, one might identify a “median” cultural identity, a stereotypical way of thinking/acting. Whatever it may be would depend on the perceiver as well as the subject. Therefore, everyone may have a different opinion of the Americans.

When it comes to greed, I’ve always felt business marketing will continually push their products to increase revenue. “I could build a better, more useful product that will sell itself or just convince the public they need more of what I already produce”. The more they sell, the more they revenue they make. And I think the indoctrination of the marketer’s ideas start at an early age, when the child is still so malleable. And then it becomes habit. So why would the CEOs want more and more money when they have far more than they’ll ever need? They, too, were subject to the indoctrination and will always want. A vicious cycle, indeed…

I’m an American citizen, but I’m relatively non-materialistic. Many of my friend don’t understand why I only buy what I need, why I don’t live at a level of luxury I could afford. I simply have no need to. But I’ve tagged along with them to buffets on occasion and can understand the feelings of the “cruise” couple in the original story. They had to endure the revolting behavior throughout the cruise; I see have to see it everyday and know others will think I behave the same just because I’m American.

Like TL says, I’m unique – don’t lump me in with a stereotype (please!). But we here have more than our share of the greedy, and they are out there, like it or not.

I’m not at all in any way an American. I’m part of the American’s neighbors… I’m Canadian. I have been to the U.S. before and am not ashamed to report that we Canadians have much of the same life-style as Americans do. I understand why people think of us as very greedy people who have no regard for the environment or for the meals we are taking away from other people worldwide. We consume almost more than half of the world’s resources, to live the comfortable lives we are right now. The others like TL and random are right though… not all of us are the same. There are tons of us who don’t eat all on our plates and keep left-overs for later. There are a lot of us who sign petitions against wasting food. Many of us try not to over-eat at buffets (we don’t always win but we don’t always fail). Everyday people are commiting themselves to stop over-eating (me being one of them) and we’re trying to stop. You’d be surprised at the amount of people who don’t overeat in both Canada and the U.S… Anyways… I can’t explain our cultures all in one comment. But you should one day visit our side of the world and see for yourself how we live.

People, when on vacation, tend to eat more… That might explain the cruise people’s behavior. You don’t see that high-quality food everyday! You can’t assume that our everyday lives are spent doing the exact same things as they are on vacations, because they’re not the same. You’d have to see for yourself. Take a vacation in America, and then go into a major city when it’s not a holiday, you’ll see the difference in their attitudes.

The average income globally is less than $10,000/year (US dollars). It’s true americans are greedy. Usually it’s just because they don’t know about the human condition as a whole on this planet and many americans can’t remember the last time they went a day without eating. I live in the USA and indeed there is alot of waste here. To people who respond to inquiries like this saying, “I think you just hate…” that’s fine but a question is just a question. If you don’t think that americans are greedy then just don’t reply and stop being a pain in the world economy’s ass. Bottom line: americans are greedy because they are ignorant.

I think the only thing ignorant here is the article and the previous statement. You can’t just lump an entire country’s population together and make broad generalizations like that. That’s stereotyping people and is prejudice. I am an American and have lived here my whole life. There are a lot of things in this country I hate and greed is high on the list. However, there are people living here who disagree with the way our country is being ran and are trying to change it. Personally I would much prefer to have higher taxes for better social services as someone stated earlier. There’s just a lot of people here with a lot of money and they will do anything to protect it. Progress is being made though painfully slow. So just remember when you talk shit about a whole population like that you’re talking shit about the people who are being victimized by the situation and the people who are against it and trying to change it assholes. Regarding food though, there is a lot of obesity and waste going on. The way food is processed and marketed here is terrible. I’ve heard of people coming here from other countries and gaining 15 lbs eating the same things. I think a lot of people just don’t know any better and a lot of people just get addicted to food. Concerning the cruise though, I think people just eat more on vacation. Also, people who can afford to go on a cruise probably can afford to be wasteful.

I am an American, I was born in New York, grew up in Texas and now lives in Florida. I’ve been all over the United States and been to Canada and Mexico. Not only are Americans the most greedy and selfish people in the worldas a result of the fattest,it’s disgusting. The second leading cause of preventable death in the United States is obesity which will soon overtake cigarettes as the number one cause.while the rich here live disgusting lifestyles of excess.

Americans cannot stand to pay taxes either, even though they pay less taxes than any industrialized nation in the world. They’re poor and sick are going homeless and dying for lack of health care and other human necessities.

the rich and powerful ( what we call the special interests) basically run the country, using lobbyists, it’s legal in the United States for corporations to give money to politicians for favorable treatment. In this way they run the country and most of the population is not smart enough to recognize what is happening. The poor and middle class are told that government is the enemy and that they should fear the peak government. Only because rich corporate America knows small government is easy to control. At the same time the economy of the United States is collapsed, and the government is completely broke – downright bankrupt! and they still talk about cutting taxes, they’re allowing their own government to disintegrate under debt, I can’t wait to see what happens when the Chinese call in their debt!maybe then Americans would have wished they supported their government and not the rich, greedy, corporate special interests that run America.

Were talking about the people who elected George W. Bush, 27% of Americans still think Bush was a good president, think about that.

It is not only americans that are greedy but the whole world is greedy.America is comprised of all kinds of different races and they are all greedy.
It is human nature to be selfish and arrogant that is of the wholoe world not only America.
The thing is that America can pursue those things that are of a selfish and arrogant nature because that is what their country represents.Capitalism and democracy is saying get all you can get which causes selfish and arrogant people which through time will cause a hateful soceity because they have the attitude you don’t care about me I don’t care about you.
But if any country could pursue wealth and material things that country would be like America too because the selfish and arrogant nature would come out.

I’d like to agree first with all the suggestions of the previous posters. To a degree, though. Yes, every person is selfish. Every country has a materialistic society. Everywhere you look you can see greed. But all to a certain degree. In some countries/places/people you see more of it, in others – less. In the America though you see quite a lot of all the above. What the author’s parents observed, was something you can see in many places across the western world, but the truth is, The United States IS the world’s largest single consumer and the greatest producer of wastes(The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas -http://www.worldwatch.org/node/810)
How many American people will walk more than 50m even just to drop by a friend get some milk? How much food do they need to consume in order to satisfy their hunger? I’ve known closely a few American people. They were all (4) big eaters and struggling with weight issues. Yet… they ALL drank DIET drinks and claimed to avoid butter…?!?
Unfortunately, I do see the rest of the worls slowly following in that path and I’m really hoping they will learn their lessons before it’s too late.

Excuse me, but those “greedy Americans” on that cruise ship are not the majority! Most Americans can’t even afford a mini-vacation to Disneyland, let alone a luxury cruise or travel abroad. In my 42 years of life, I have NEVER been able to afford to go on any vacation at all. Whether in my own country or abroad.

I take exception to the let’s bash-Americans tone of some of the prior comments and the article because as an American, I certainly have NOT enjoyed a fraction of the social class privileges, economic security and other benefits that affluent tight-wads from America and Europe alike enjoy, and obviously can easily afford.

I am one of those 50 million Americans who is poor and uninsured and therefore had to suffer without access to basic health and dental care for most of my 42 years of life. I live in an impoverished Rust Belt town where people die each winter for lack of winter heating utilities and a real — not imaginary — lack of help and social support.

My sister worked her whole life waiting tables for less than minimum wage, having to rely on tips to keep a roof over her head and food on her table, and she never had access to health care. The cheapest, greediest customers who either didn’t tip at all or left insultingly paltry tips were…you guessed it: affluent Europeans who could afford to travel to come here to America on vacation. They balked at the idea that they should have to tip the poor overworked waitress, even though they knew full well that waitresses rely on tips to be able to barely survive. My sister died of ovarian cancer at age 40 in April, 2001. When is the last time YOU had to work for nothing and be expected to bust your ass on top of it?

For Europeans to call all Americans “greedy” reeks of hypocrisy. And that’s putting it mildly.

Me and countless other Americans, many who come from generational poverty, go without health and dental care because after WW II, Europe got rebuilt on America’s dime. That is why pharmaceuticals and the health-care systems of European nations are socialized and therefore available to all Europeans — whether they’re from the working class or from the privileged class.

So while you guys enjoy generous welfare and social safety nets, longer life expectancy rates, better food quality, more socio-economic opportunity, greater access to advanced educations, more fluid socio-economic mobility, and universal access to health and dental care, remember that it was largely made possible by the Marshall Plan and other measures implemented by a “greedy American” — late former president Harry S. Truman. That money could have, and should have, been spent on uplifting America’s poor and working classes who don’t have health care and who are struggling in poverty and who hail from the generation of vets that saved Britain’s ass from becoming Hitler’s outhouse.

Lastly, it was greedy Europeans (mostly British, French, and Spanish) who colonized America under the direction of Europe’s monarchs and with the blessing of the Vatican which issued a series of papal bulls framing the Doctrine of Discovery; killing off 95% of the Native Americans (“Indians”) in the name of divine providence and Manifest Destiny.

It was greedy, imperialistic Europeans who launched the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which kidnapped Africans and sent them in bondage to build America as their colonization “project.”

It was greedy Europeans whose entrenched history and tradition of feudalism and imperialism that gave birth to modern American vulture capitalism.

It was greedy Europeans from the privileged classes who dumped Europe’s poor and unwanted on American soil as a matter of social policy so that their precious wealth wouldn’t be taxed to support Europe’s poor.

And it is greedy class bigoted Europeans today that won’t take economic refugees from America (or anywhere else, for that matter) as poor immigrants who want a chance for a better life than what poor people have here.

Before you or any other European snobbish class bigot dare to castigate Americans for being “greedy”, you better take a good hard look in the mirror.

And pick up a history book or three and a contemporary American social justice book and read while you’re at it. You might actually learn something.

Jacqueline S. Homan,
Author: “Classism For Dimwits” “Divine Right: The Truth is a Lie”
“Nothing You Can Possess”
“Eyes of a Monster”

I forgot to include a point regarding the eating habits/obesity problems and greed that the original poster mentioned and it is a point that must be addressed. This is an addendum to my rather lengthy post above:

(1)Over 60 million Americans struggle to live on less than $7/day, according to most recent US Census records and the US Dept. of Health & Human Services 2004 reports.

(2) Nearly 1/3 of Americans are food insecure, forced to stretch inadequate food stamps supplemented by monthly trips to local charity food pantries to receive a bag of non-perishable high-starch, high sugar, high carb loaded foods — all of which cause obesity and Type II diabetes. But when you’re poor and all you can afford is cheap or donated foods, you either eat that or starve. The US FDA allows foods on our supermarket shelves that are chock full of dangerous hormones and chemicals and preservatives that would never be allowed on European grocery store shelves. Hunger, malnutrition and obesity are not paradoxical.

(3)Only 7% of Americans from the lower socio-economic rungs get to go to college and graduate before age 25 because college educations, if you also count grad school tuition for fields like law or medicine, cost upwards of about $100,000 at minimum — far out of reach for the majority of Americans which is why less than 25% of Americans are able to even get a four year (Bachelors) degree, never mind a Masters or PhD.

(4) Over 4.3 million American households (many with children and elderly members) are suffering without life-sustaining utilities to keep from freezing to death in the winter, or dying of heat stroke in the summer because of being priced out by skyrocketed gas and electric utility rates. The largest shareholders of these utility monopolies are British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, and other European-based global fossil fuel cartels.

(5) Over 3 million Americans are homeless and living in “tent cities.” Since the collapse of the housing market, the banksters on Wall Street with their shenanigans, and rising fuel poverty and permanent job losses in the tens of millions, things have only gotten worse for the average American. Most are one paycheck away from being homeless.

(6)A root canal and filling, which would cost a visitor to the UK at any UK dentist only $325 USD (about 198 GBP) costs almost $2,000 here in America and there isn’t “all this help out there” for America’s poor that everyone thinks there is.

(7)On the global scale, the World Bank and the IMF (International Murder Fund) are creatures of Europe’s central banks. So is the American Federal Reserve system, which is neither federal nor a reserve: it is privately owned by privately owned banks, whose owners are the moneychangers — the same super rich elite that own or control Europe’s central banks.

(8) The current problems in the Middle East were not caused by America alone: Operation Ajax (look it up) was conducted more than half a century ago after the end of WW II at the behest of wealthy elites from Europe’s selfish class: The House of Rothschild, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Warburg, Schiff,and their American puppets and cohorts(Harriman, Bush, Rockefeller, and the Dulles gang). Operation Ajax sowed the seeds of rage and resentment against the West in Iran, Iraq and the trans-Jordanian nations. Plus Britain’s control over Palestine and the White Papers which carved up Palestine and later formed Israel was Britain’s brainchild. Since America has always been Europe’s lackey, especially Britain’s, America’s size and force was used to push British and European interests at the expense of the people in the Middle East. (And we wonder *why* we have a terrorist problem?) Unfortunately, America suffered the worst repercussions for serving as Europe’s lackey when on a single day in September of 2001, over 5,000 innocent American civilians were killed in the WTC and Pentagon attacks. Many were the from America’s “invisible” working class: volunteer rescue teams, janitors, cafeteria workers, receptionists and secretaries.

(9) White Americans ARE descendents of Europe. The Native Americans (“Indians”) are not white, nor are they genetically related, however remotely, to any of pre-historic Europe’s tribes (the progenitors of modern European people) that settled Europe during the Great Thracian Migration period.

Many white Americans were banished to America (as well as Australia and New Zealand) when they were sent here by Britain when Britain emptied its workhouses and prisons, dumping its most luckless class of people in colonies like Virginia. Many are descendants of Europeans who fled Europe’s religious wars and persecution in their home countries and sought safe haven here on American soil(Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, Lutherans, Jews, and free-thinkers) and settled in eastern Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Many were profiteers from Europe’s bourgeois class, seeking to make a name for themselves with fame, fortune, exploitation and piracy. Many escaped the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840’s by coming to America. Britain certainly didn’t care if the Irish, whom they colonized and enslaved in the Ulster Plantation system, starved. The Irish were always treated as “less than” by everyone else in Europe (and still are). And a few, very few, white Europeans came to America after being given a land grant by either the British or Spanish crowns.

History shows us that America’s greed among its middle/upper classes is really nothing more than an extension or a product of the greed and imperialism of Europe’s wealthy.

Kamchaska you are right…
YES AMERICANS ARE GREEDY !!! ,,its not only about food,,,but also as a people they are greedy,,,they dont see any point in sharing something with others in everyday life,, i live and Canada now,,,canadians are greedy as fuck ,,,they only think of money,, all marriages in canada are based on money,,if you dont have money you are not gonna find a nice girl,,there is nothing free there,,, europeans are different i would say,,at least central and eastern europeans,,

canadians are so pathetic that sometimes they even feel bad for spending money for themselves … sorry

Assessing the Extent of China’s Marketization China is indisputably one of the most dynamic economic regions in the world; however the character, nature and extent of its market economy status remains in question. This book provides an empirical analysis of many aspects of the developing market ….

there are many reasons why americans are greedy americans were never civilized like the Europeans . americans will take advantage of any situation for there own benefit. americans are spoiled and it show

im american and one thing i know is we are not greedy. I hear all these outsiders talking about how we are. Shut the hell up already… you pry been to one city in one state. dont base us off of one spot, and we are civilized people, if we wernt we wouldnt have what we have now, thats the dumbest thing i have ever heard… not civilized? were not some 1st world country? plus were one of the youngest and look how much we’ve grown…..idiot!

I agree it is a bit of a generalization and inappropriate to class all Americans has having their snouts in the food trough. I would suggest that the class of people that go on cruises are typical of people that want to take their ‘culture’ with them, have food on tap 24 hours a day, no need to meet the locals, etc.

As for Homan’s comments. You have a one sided and highly distorted view of history. Somehow illogically intertwining internal US domestic politics and social issues with ‘things’ that happened in Europe.

Even before WW2 Roosevelt was pushing the ‘Second New Deal’ but this was resisted by ‘big business’. A portent to what has happened to many socially directed policy initiatives in the US from the end of WW2 to now – the ‘elites’ in the US have impoverished their own people.

The US used WW2 to disassemble the remaining elements of the European empires to become the new empire. The Marshall Aid plan was put in place to prevent Western Europe falling into the hands of the Soviets. It also had the benefit of creating new consumers for US products and industrial capacity. The plan constituted a small percentage of total wealth that the US had returned many times over in terms of trade. As for saving our ‘ass’ I would suggest the death of over 20million Russians is the real measure of who broke the back of the Nazi war machine.

After WW2 the US was the richest country in the world and had the opportunity to put in place universal health care which is a cheaper delivery model than the current US system. The US could have the same single delivery model as Europe, Canada, Australia, NZ, etc, but you are not will to challenge big business. Investment is social programs has been resisted by big business in the US and the population had been brain washed (land of opportunity, ‘trickle down’, supply side economic, Monetarism, etc) believing that ‘crude capitalism’ via massive tax cuts, would deliver wealth for all. It has proved to a disastrous illusion as the middle and working classes in the US have experienced declining incomes and opportunity and gini coefficient analysis now suggests that in a few years the US will have a wealth distribution similar to a developing country.

The societal, economic, business, etc, problems in the US are all self inflicted.

you duch bag have you looked around or do you have your head up your ass. jobs are going away while upper management are making record profits because of the lay offs. go to your local mall and see those young punks how they act in public. in europe they do not wear pjs in public. get your facts straight

20 years ago I visited USA. I was in Iowa and a US American guy around my age came to me and asked if I was alright because I had no US Dollars to buy my bus ticket at Greyhound station, but I did have German money. So he kindly exchanged my German money to US dollars so I could buy a bus ticket. I thanked him and he brought me a huge sandwich and we ate and talked. Then he went away to his bus. I found MidWestern USA people extremely helpful and friendly. My first impression about USA was extremely great. Everyone was so friendly and helpful that I felt selfish myself accepting all the help. Also like a magic wand every time my car broke down there was a guy or a girl to ask me and to help me very nicely in USA. Like a Guardian Angel! Or perhaps I got myself lucky. There were a few times I was on my own or having to spend huge cash to get my car fixed, but there always was help anyway. And a Black guy fixed my engine by asking if he could help before I even started looking for help. Sometimes they would start fixing my car before I even got out of my car! That is very nice. I think US Americans are very helpful on the road as the least. Now car agarages are another story, but the people on the road are superb with help and friendliness. Not in Spain, not in France so much, but UK and USA quite a lot of helpful people. P.S. I am from Lithuania.

I was in the british army and went to train with the american forces for 6 weeks in Seattle , I didnt complain about there breakfast on the camp, id never experienced coke and lemonade in gallon containers, hash browns, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg, fried bread by the bucket load. makes me feel hungry.

Back in the camp they had a guy come round in the evenings to take pizza orders, a large in the uk is 14″ , this must have been 20″.

One thing we couldnt understand was you go to a pub/bar to drink and socialise and the americans were there with a cold beer and a burger the size of a beef roast, we went out and on the table were 1 x 4 pint jug of lager per person for starters.

Everything Jacqueline S. Homan has stated is correct, instead of trying to look cool and act like a stuck up snob, you Europeans should get a clue, instead of stereotyping every american because of a couple that acted like they did. And really? None of your countries are money grubbing? None of your countries have obese people who gouge on food? Really?

Alright some stereotypes are true… Why are blacks such great athletes? Why are Jews so smart?? I mean historically we can see that greed is something that definitely has consumed mankind and from a king to a peasant we are all motivated by greed to an extent. Lets just say that Americans probably reached high levels on the needs and wants hierarchy and are now just circulating greed… You know speaking as an American… I would say that we are 100% people. We do everything at 100%… Its all about optimizing experiences… Get the fullest and greatest out of everything. The kid in the candy shop is a good analogy.. Maybe someone who has not trained their compulsions will have discipline issues. We want it all and we want it now. Very bad. Anyway all I am saying is that if a human is not trained properly or is just a boat in the middle of the pacific ocean anchored to nothing.. then maybe we will allow compulsions to take over… Americans are also more spread out than europeans and the proximity of humans in europe is relieving to the soul. Humans need kinetic energy and maybe Americans entertain themselves with food.